CHAP. XI. ORIGIN OF MENSURATION. 7 



It is reasonable to suppose that as the inundation 

 subsided, much ligitation sometimes occurred be- 

 tween neighbours respecting the limits of their un- 

 enclosed fields ; and the fall of a portion of the bank, 

 carried away by the stream during the rise of 

 the Nile, frequently made great alterations in the 

 extent of land near the river side ; we therefore 

 readily perceive the necessity of determining the 

 quantity which belonged to each individual, whether 

 to settle disputes with a neighbour, or to ascertain 

 the tax due to government.* But it is difficult to 

 fix the period when the science of mensuration 

 commenced ; if we have ample proofs of its being 

 known in the time of Joseph, this does not carry 

 us far back into the ancient history of Egypt ; 

 and there is evidence of geometry and mathematics 

 having already made the same progress at the 

 earliest period of which any monuments remain, as 

 in the later era of the Patriarch, or of the Great 

 Remeses. 



Besides the mere measurement of superficial 

 areas, it was of paramount importance to agriculture, 

 and to the interests of the peasant, to distribute the 

 benefits of the inundation in due proportion to each 

 individual, that the lands which were low might 

 not enjoy the exclusive advantages of the fertilising 

 water, by constantly draining it from those of a 

 higher lev^el. For this purpose, the necessity of as- 

 certaining the various elevations of the country, and 

 of constructing accurately levelled canals and dykes, 



* Ilcrodot. ii. 109. 



B 4 



